


a light in the dark

by guardyanangel



Category: Zombies Run!
Genre: Alaina Sauvage, F/M, Gen, OFC aka, Pre-Canon, former Runner Four
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-18
Updated: 2015-01-18
Packaged: 2018-03-08 00:32:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3189071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/guardyanangel/pseuds/guardyanangel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everyone has their own ways of grieving. Sam discovers Alice's. || Likely to turn into an multichapter Alice/Sam relationship study.</p>
            </blockquote>





	a light in the dark

**Author's Note:**

> For Iron Zombies! Inspired by the following prompts:  
> http://oi61.tinypic.com/2cdbdcl.jpg  
> http://oi62.tinypic.com/idrer7.jpg

 

> _It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness._
> 
> _-Eleanor Roosevelt_  

_One:_

It’s been about a week since he lost Runner Four (Alaina, he reminds himself. They’ll have a new Four soon enough) and Alice has been despondent. She and the other young woman had known one another before the outbreak—had quickly become fast friends after the apocalypse. They were all used to grief, by now, of course, but it didn’t make the losses any easier.

He finds her sitting with a lit candle in front of Four—Alaina’s—old tent, and he can’t help the sound of surprise. Candles aren’t often lit without reason, nowadays, after all. Alice looks up at him in alarm when he makes the noise. Her face is tear-stained, eyes puffy, and she sounds as though she has a cold when she speaks.

“I found it on a run today,” she explains, holding up the candle, “My Nan and I—we did it for my parents and the others we’d—lose. I just… I needed to light one for her. Please don’t tell Janine.”

It takes him a few moments to process, but he nods as soon as he does. Taking a seat beside her is a careful, careful thing.

“Y-yeah, Five. Don’t—don’t worry about it, mm? I won’t tell a soul.”

“Thanks, Sam.” His heart leaps in his chest when she rests her head against his shoulder.

They sit like that in silence for a little while, watching the candle flame flicker under the moonlight. Alice’s shoulders still shake every so often with quiet sobs, and Sam finds himself pulling an arm around her, doing what little he can to soothe.

The candle starts to dim, and she finally shifts to blow it out with a soft sigh of resignation and a whispered goodbye to Alaina he pretends not to hear. Sam blinks as his eyes adjust to the more full darkness before he starts to shift away.

“Thank you again,” Alice murmurs as he moves.

“It was nothing.”

“No. It was everything.”

He doesn’t find the words to contest that. He just mutters something about how she’s welcome, and starts to push to his feet. Alice follows suit, bidding him a quiet goodnight before heading back to her tent.

They’re only a few paces away from another when she calls, “Oh, and Sam?”

“Y-yeah?” There’s an embarrassing tremble in his voice. Hopefully she doesn’t hear.

“You can call me Alice, all right?”

He turns back to face her; catches her smile in the dim light. He realizes in that moment just how much he's missed seeing it in this past week.

“A-all right. Good night, Alice.”

“Good night, Sam. Sweet… sweet dreams.”

“You, too.”

He finds, with an earnestness that surprises him, that he absolutely means it.


End file.
